
Class 2^ 5s? 7 
faiyiightF J 9 II 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



FOAM FLOWERS 



J 



By the Same Author 

The Essential Life 

Soul and Circumstance 



FOAM FLOWERS 



POEMS 



BY 



STEPHEN BERRIEN STANTON 




NEW YORK 

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 

1911 






Copyright, 1911, by 
STEPHEN BERRIEN STANTON 

All nights Eeserved 



%-i^^ 



©CI.A3034 



G5 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

FOAM FLOWERS 3 

POETRY 4 

OUTLOOK 5 

A MOUNTAIN LAKE ... 6 

AH, LIGHT OF LIFE 7 

SORROW AT A HOLIDAY 8 

A CALM 9 

MID-SUMMER 10 

HEARTS MUSICAL 11 

FELICITAS 12 

HEART'S CONTENT 13 

THE YEAR'S REVEILLE 14 

THE BUGLE OF THE BLOOD 16 

IN A LIBRARY 18 

THE STREAM OF LIFE 19 

SEAS AERIAL 20 

DECLINING YEARS 21 

THAMES' EMBANKMENT 22 

STANLEY 23 

BRITISH MUSEUM 24 

SYMPATHETIC SKY 26 

MATURITY 27 

MOLOCH MAN 28 

FRESH BREEZE SEAWARD 29 



"r'**s™«n«r'~flHK»i(H> 



CONTENTS 

CHIAROSCURO: p^ge 

I WEARINESS 33 

II STRENGTH 34 

" THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR THEM IN THE INN " . 35 

VIA VITAE 36 

THE DISMANTLED YEAR 37 

SNOW-FLURRY 38 

MIDNIGHT MOMENTS 39 

SNOW-DROP 40 

APRIL 41 

MARGUERITES 42 

TRANSITIONAL 43 

AN UPLAND LYRIC 45 

NOON 46 

NIGHT'S OUTLAWRY 47 

SKY-KINDRED 48 

JUNE GRASS 49 

A MARINE 50 

SEA SOLITUDE ..." 51 

A WOODLAND SPRING 52 

UNDER THE OLIVES 53 

FROLIC OF THE WAVES 56 

SUMMER SAILS 57 

SIROCCO 58 

SOUTH SEA 59 

ST. ANN'S BAY 60 

THE GOOD, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE TRUE . . 61 

THE KEY OF JOY MAJOR 62 

PRIVILEGED CLASSES 63 

THE NIGHT EXPRESS 64 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

FAREWELLS ARE FEW 65 

THE SEASONS' TOLL 66 

TWILIGHT OF THE YEAR 67 

LOST YOUTH 68 

EVENING 69 

MYSTICISM 70 

PEAK AND PLAIN: 

I AMBITION 73 

II CONTENTMENT 74 

IDEALISM 75 

'TIS ONLY IN SPRING THAT THE AMARANTHS 

GROW 76 

REMINISCENCE 77 

ARS ET LABOR 78 

MATERIALISM 80 

THE ONE THING MORE 81' 

OBSCURITY 82 

THE MUSE 83 

THE PRECIOUS HOURS 84 

HALF-TRUTH 85 

TO A ROMAN STATUE LABELLED " UNKNOWN " . 86 

MARE ANTIQUUM 87 

ON LEAVING THE RIVIERA 88 

THE BARREN INTELLECT 89 

FULFILMENT 90 



NOTE 

Of the poems appearing in this volume, three have 
been published before : " Foam Flowers " in Appleton's 
Magazine; ^' Hearts Musical '' in the New England 
Magazine; and ^'A Mountain Lake'^ in the Harvard 
Advocate. For permission to reprint these the author's 
thanks are due to the editors of the periodicals men- 
tioned. 



^ • >-».,'^-- .jv >^^>:,"~» v^ xv.-^-^ ^ ^ ^-^v;i. ^ ^^~«> - 



FOAM FLOWERS 



FOAM FLOWERS 

The sea is white with marguerites — • 
A sudden garden of the breeze, 

The driven flowers of the foam 
Like gusty blossoms off the trees. 

My hedge is e'en a white-capped sea, 
A squall of fresh-blown marguerites; 

A floral mere of petalled foam 

Whose tempest 'gainst my garden beats. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



POETRY 

Music imaginative, spirit a' fire; 
Plummet of depths in unfathomed sea; 
Wing of the soul that can never tire ; 
Wand of a magic potency. 

Flame of a lambent, trembling tongue ; 
Sesame of the turn-key word; 
Star of hope in the heavens hung ; 
Harmony by immortals heard. 

Rent in the cloudland canopy; 
Break in the brass of human bands; 
Window set in the Western sky; 
View of Elysiau, sun-lit lands. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



OUTLOOK 

The distant view unlocks the eye 
And leads the thought away from care, 
And spreads an amplitude of sky 
Above our little day^s despair. 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



A MOUNTAIN LAKE 

A little lake lay in the hills, 

Far away, away; 
Fed by mountain brooks and rills ; 
" Hush ! " it seemed to say. 

The trees came to the water's edge, 
Whispering, " Let's look in ! " 

They bent their boughs far o'er the ledge 
And saw themselves therein. 

The wooded hills swelled all around, 
Each towering o'er its brother. 

And over all broke ne'er a sound, 
For God dwelt here — none other. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



AH, LIGHT OF LIFE 

ISTow comes the dark and I must close my eyes 
And go again into that spirit night 
To which my senses ever take their flight 
When day departeth down the western skies. 
I hate the parting, though I know not why 
For I have had o'ermuch of life to-day, 
"Nor is there some great hope that hids me stay, 
Yet — somehow if it cease, I seem not I. 
Ah, light of life, thou art as 'twere a shore 
Upon a sea of nothingness and night 
Beyond whose verge my being balks in fright 
Lest, plunging in, it find no foothold more. 
Good-night then, day, but do not leave me long 
Fail not to meet me at the first bird-song. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SORROW AT A HOLIDAY 

The summer sky, the sun, the laughing throng, 
Such things complete the sad heart's bitterness 
And turn it sick as with a sense of wrong 
And cruel mockery at its distress. 
Oh, give instead the sympathetic grey 
That drapes the sky of some December day 
Wherein to hide my mutilated heart ; 
How grateful then to every wounded part 
Descends the balsam of the saddened air; 
Then is the cheerless earth as we are — bare, 
And hurts no longer with her heartless laugh ; 
Then woe is spared the pang that envy adds. 
For kindred lines of joy's deep epitaph 
Are graven on the face of myriads. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



A CALM 

The bated air is still and breathless lays 
A bushing finger on its lifeless lips : 
The smooth enamel of the calm doth glaze 
The waters and the sleep-o'erf alien ships. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



MID-SUMMEE 



What ! fading grass so soon, and falling leaves - 
Scarce fully blown, sun-blighted fails the jear; 
A note within the scanty birdsong grieves 
And from the air has fled the early cheer. 

Thus fails humanity's mid-summer leaf; 
There falls a calm upon our pristine stir. 
Scarce had we thought the gaiety so brief — 
Already we look back to days that were! 



10 



FOAM FLOWERS 



HEAETS MUSICAL 

Thou only tuner, Lord, of hearts o'erstrung, 
Reduce these tones that treble to excess; 
And where in turn we fail for languidness, 
Key true again the strings that life has wrung. 



n 



FOAM FLOWERS 



FELICITAS 

To seek a little and enjoy it much — 
xAh, this were wealth heyond a Midas' touch ! 
The bee within the blossom of a weed 
Can sip the very cup of Ganymede. 



12 



FOAM FLOWERS 



HEARTHS CONTENT 

More softly nowhere blows the breeze, 
No sweeter flowers grow than these ; 
No happier could the moment be — 
Nor bless another more than me. 



13 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE YEAR'S REVEILLE 

Wlien spring flings the windows wide, 

The dead days are o'er; 

Then joy waits for ns outside, 

And June holds the door ! 

For the sun gems the water, 
The sails are wing-and-wing ; 
And hope's off the quarter 
Where siren voices sing. 

Ko longer now the earth is cold, 
The air no longer mute ; 
For Flora spreads her cloth of gold, 
Apollo brings his flute, — 

And the in-tide is flowing, 

The sap stirs the trees ; 

The young year is growing 

And love is in the breeze. 



14 



FOAM FLOWEES 

The gladsome days are glistening, 

The heavens have no cloud ; 

Awakened worlds are listening, 

For life is calling loud. 

And the sun gems the water, 
And joy seems a'wing; 
And in the weather quarter 
Lies blue expanse of spring ! 



15 



FOAM TLOWERS 



THE BUGLE OF THE BLOOD 

Let us fling life high a' shoulder 
And swing out along the way, 
With the rolling drums of courage 
In the vanguard of the day ; 
though the unknown e'er confronts us 
And though death may e'er befall, 
Fearing nothing march we forward 
To the quick blood's bugle-call. 

True, mankind's a mighty foeman 
And the chances oft are slim, 
And entrenched behind indifference 
Fate's defiant guns look grim ; 
Yet within the heart some hero, 
Oft as falls the flag of hope, 
Snatches up its riddled remnant 
And leads fearless up the slope. 



16 



FOAM FLOWERS 

With a cheer, then, and undaunted 
Go we forth into the fray. 
Marching gallantly to meet it, 
^N'othing doubting of the day; 
Though the unknown e'er confronts us 
And though death may e'er befall. 
We will move unfearing forward 
To the quick blood's bugle call. 



17 



FOAM FLOWERS 



IN A LIBRARY 



Thank God^ there are aloof from garish life 

Such deep retreats of healing to be found 

As this — this dim and mellow vault of books, 

This dusk that dreams with all imaginings. 

O spirit mine, here only art thou whole ; 

Here only dwell'st in tropics of the soul 

And feelest airs of thine own clemency. 

The softened lights, the rich subdued hues, 

The muffled sounds — these soothe the ruffled sense 

And rob environment of all offence ; 

As when the waters of some fair lagoon 

That lie becalmed within a coral reef 

Break gently lapping on the blessed shore. 



18 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE STREAM OF LIFE 

From daisj-dotted fields of Spring 
Where early flowers grow, 
Between the city's sordid banks 
The upland waters flow. 



19 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



SEAS AERIAL 

The boundless sea of open skies 
(Green leaves against its azure blue) 
Spreads out before mj finite eyes 
Its vast, illimitable view. 

A surf I hear amongst the trees, — 
The dashing spray, the distant roar, 
The soothing sound of airy seas 
That break against a leaf-bound shore. 

And looking up through limpid deeps. 
Full-facing that pellucid sea, 
Mine unimpeded vision sweeps 
The confines of infinity. 



20 



EOAM FLOWERS 



DECLINING YEARS 

Here halts the gently flowing stream of time 
And in these locks by gradual degree 
Is lowered to the meadows maritime 
And led into the level, lockless sea. 



21 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



THAMES' EMBANKMENT 

Where Egypt's Needle in a northem land 

No more the Nile's insistent sunlight knows, 

No more across a sea of desert sand 

Surveys the marvels of the Pharaohs; 

But gazes scornfully on newer stones 

And hears the time proclaimed from Thames-side towers, 

Its hieroglyphics girt by English tones, 

Its sun-scorched sides beteared with English showers, — 

There radiates an empire-ruling race 

With sovereignty o'er distant lands and seas — 

Ah, Obelisk, thine exile well befalls : 

Thou knowest not that this imperial place, 

This kingly seat of countless satrapies, 

Now rules thine Egypt from its council-halls. 



2» 



FOAM FLOWERS 



STANLEY 

May 10, 1904 

"No other continent there was on earth, 
Untrodden, unexplored, unknown to man; 
That darkest one, so long beneath the ban 
Of Night, where first the light of day had birth 
When thou didst open to its baffled ray 
The Afrie black of jungle density 
And, traversing its dread immensity, 
Didst blaze athwart the wilderness a way — 
That was the last ; no other worlds there were 
Which thy heroic spirit might explore 
Upon this globe. So, dauntless traveller. 
Thou seekest now a trans-terrestrial shore, 
From whence, oh, canst not even thou return 
To lift the veil from that mysterious bourn? 



S3 



FOAM FLOWEES 



BEITISH MUSEUM 



Firm-set upon the earth, inviolate; 
'Not merely holding fast by dint of clutch 
As is the newer way, but massively 
A part of nature's rock ; its columned front 
In posture resolute and yet relaxed, 
A poise established for eternity — 
Here is the treasure-house of history, 
The mighty domed abode of Man and Muse, 
A nation's bulwark 'gainst the hand of Time 
And safe asylum from impiety. 
Within this shrine there keeps the sacred fire. 
The spirit's flame of continuity — 
Where echoing corridors of Art proclaim 
The crescent glory of creative man. 
What constant climate dignifies the mood 
Among these monuments of proto-time; 
And from these classic figures of repose 
Breathes forth an equable philosophy. 
Behold the Marbles of Athenian hand, 
The hand of one now countless ages dead, 

24 



FOAM FLOWEKS 

5ince whom we lesser mortals in our turn 
Eave come and gazed upon his work and gone 
Like him; yet these imperishable ones 
Live on, immortal though by man create, 
serene and strong they look upon a world 
3f passing pigmies, their heroic eyes 
Far-focussed on the blue ^gean sky. 

Eere shall the future find them gazing still ; 
^d here this changeless palace of Mankind 
5hall stand its sacred ground when this To-day 
Sas stepped without and gone its busy way. 



25 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SYMPATHETIC SKY 

O sombre day, 

That wearest the weather of my o'ercast soul, 
A grey-clad nurse art thou to human -woe, 
A ministering nun that quietly doth go 
Sharing the sorrows she may not console 
And letting tears of sympathy overflow. 



26 



FOAM FLOWERS 



MATUEITY 

Time was, when time was young; 
Youth once a draught of fire — 
Far now the chalice flung, 
Drained of its red desire. 



1^7 



FOAM FLOWERS 



MOLOCH MAN 



The foot of fate across the meadow strides, 

And each small insect in its terror hides 

Or flees or gazing np in mute appeal 

Is caught and crushed beneath the heedless heel. 



FOAM FLOWERS 



FRESH BREEZE SEAWARD 

The white wolves of the Ocean pack 
Are in full cry toward the West 
And flashinglj each foaming hack 
O'erleaps the scudding billow's crest. 

So go my thoughts on equal quest 
And seek in vain a far-bound shore 
And like these waves forego all rest 
And rise and fall forevermore. 



CHIAROSCURO 



EOAM FLOWERS 



WEARINESS 

gulf of deep oblivion, receive 

Unto thy hospitable spaces vast 

This lacerated soul that longs at last 

To quench sensation in thy Negative ; 

Thou lightless, soundless black abode of bliss, 

The bliss of losing what to have is hell, 

Permit no consciousness to break thy spell 

Or pierce the emptiness of thine abyss. 

O aching eye, now filled with soothing night, 

What seeing ever gave such glorious sight! 

O frenzied ear, delicious quiet fills 

Thy silent chambers ! Soft cessation steals 

O'er all the twitchings of the tortured sense; 

And thought returns to restful nescience. 



33 



FOAM FLOWEBS 

II 

STRENGTH 

Kow blooms the new-blown morning like a flower, 
All life is straining at the leash of night ; 
The glow of expectation gilds the hour 
And tips the peaks of purpose with delight. 
Once more activity imprints its zest 
Upon the fresh-spread tablets of the sense: 
Each swelling power, exuberant with rest. 
Exults for joy of very competence. 
Perception gladdens at the least employ — 
Mere sound is pleasure and mere sight is joy; 
Yea, even grief forgetting its distress 
Partakes a moment of brief happiness. 
With buoyant feet hope treads the untried day 
And fronts with confidence the doubt-strewn way. 



34 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



^^THEEE WAS NO EOOM FOR 
THEM IN" THE INN.'^ 

" The world is full ; not men, the need, but space ! " 

So speaks despondency. " Superfluous stands 

Ability with unemployed hands 

The day-long idle on the market-place. 

Try what you will — 'twas better done before ; 

Look where you may — the seats are occupied : 

Crowds lie in wait, and waiting stand outside 

And surge against the fast, debarring door." 

]^o room for us ? l^or was there once for Christ ; 

!N"or ever shall be but for him to whom 

The chance to be himself is ample room — 

This and this only hath great souls sufficed. 

Let but the loyalty to self be strong 

And lo, to us both earth and heaven belong. 



35 



FOAM FLOWERS 



VIA VITAE 

Over the meadows of dear delight, 
Over the desert of woe, 
Through the deep forest of dark affright, 
All of us mortals go. 



36 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE DISMANTLED YEAR 

Fires of Fall on the 

SuinacE bum red; 
Stark on the stubble-field 

Summer lies dead. 

Dirges the lingering 

Chickadees voice; 
1^0 more the thrushes sing, 

'No more rejoice. 

No more the lyric air 

Ripples the trees; 
Only their branches bare 

Sway in the breeze. 



37 



FOAM ELOWERS 



SNOW-FLURRY 

The snow-flaJies fall uncertainly 

As if reluctant to alight — 

Brief birds whose short, capricious flight 

Consigns to long captivity. 



38 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



MIDNIGHT MOMENTS 

From all inclemency exempt, 
Mj thoughts entwined in rising smoke, 
Deep in my study nook I dreamt — 
The blaze upon the hearth awoke. 

No outer sound an access gained; 
The clock alone, soft-sandalled, broke 
The stillness. Relaxation reigned: 
In unheard words the silence spoke. 



39 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SNOW-DEOP 



Far-sighted seer of the coming year, 
First stroke of nature's never-erring clock; 
Upon the winter's door earth's first faint knock 
While still the snows deny that spring is near. 



40 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



APEIL 



Half-filled with storm and half with fairest blue 
The doubtful sky enacts its double part: 
As ever, Nature, dost thou show how true 
A likeness of the inward life thou art. 



41 



FOAM FLOWERS 



MARGUERITES 



Gay children of the lawn, whose joyous bands 
Acclaim in gleeful unison the Spring, 
With ecstasy out-stretching glad white hands 
And radiant hearts of gold wide-opening. 



42 



FOAM FLOWERS 



TRANSITIONAL 



•We mourn the daisy and the daffodil 
And all the sweet successions of the Spring 
As one by one their joyous blossoming 
Fails ere we can take of each our fill. 

Yet nature's teens turn into fairer youth : 
The rose of June consoles for loss of May — 
Such flowers scent the summer's lingering day 
As make of earth a paradise, forsooth. 

These also pass ; the busier birds grow dumb. 

Is this the end? Ah no, our joy is long; 

A ripe maturity succeeds the song — 

Where blossoms promised, now the fruit is come. 

Anon, the orchards bear their luscious store, 
The crops are garnered from the gleaned fields - 
Now surely earth has given all it yields 
And now at last its joyousness is o'er. 



FOAM FLOWERS 

short of sight this oft-recurring fear 
That reads cessation into every change, 
That sets to happiness such narrow range ! — 
One season's end but brings another's cheer: 

When leaves are fallen and the ground is bare 
And o'er the earth reigns calm expectancy, 
The barren skies bring forth, and suddenly — 
The snow! the very fruitage of the air. 

'Nov is it death that quiets earth at length 
But mere transition to another Spring: 
Its deathless heart unseen is fostering, 
The chrysalis of reawakening strength. 



U 



FOAM FLOWERS 



AN UPLAND LYKIC 

IVe a tryst with the sun where the berries grow, 
Where the pines smell hot and the wind speaks low 
And the summer lingers as lothe to go — 
I've a tryst with the sun, I say. 

IVe a tryst with the sun where the pasture lies 
With open heart to the burning skies 
And the kine look up in a mild surprise — 
IVe a tryst with the sun to-day. 

IVe a tryst with the sun till the day is done 

And the hill-top hides the parting ray, 

Till the twilight hour and the last-closed flower, — 

IVe a tryst with the sun each day. 



45 



FOAM FLOWERS 



NOON 



The daylight's splendour deepens hour hy hour ; 
The gradual petals of the morning part 
And spread their growing heauty more and more 
Till lo, the full corona of the flower 
Unshrines the glory of its golden heart ! 



i 



46 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



NIGHT^S OUTLAWEY 

Deep in the woods 
Down the ravine, 

Solitude broods, 
Dwelling unseen. 

Eoaring, the brook 
Muffles the breeze; 

Croaking, the rook 
Flaps from the trees. 

Ghostly, the air; 

Ghastly, the light — 
Here is the lair 

Of outlawed night. 



47 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SKY-KINDEED 



Star of the lawn, whose steady upward gaze 
Outstares the effulgence of the noonday sky 
And meets unflinchingly the dazzling rays 
From which thy flower-mates avert the eye, 

Didst dot the firmament before thy fall, 
One constellation with the stars on high ? 
And art still mindful of a stellar call 
And conscious of some kinship with the sky ? 



48 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



JUNE GRASS 

To feel the sun, to hear the wind, 
To see the ecstasy of flowers; 
To know that nature's heart is kind 
And that its heritage is ours. 



49 



FOAM FLOWERS 



A MARINE 

Upon a canvas of cloudland white 
Lay on the brush of blue ; 
Luminous with a diffuse light — 
So paint the ship-side view. 



50 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SEA SOLITUDE 

Out of the waste no moimtains rise 
But cloudland imagery; 
Over its fields no flower grows 
But the wind's anemone. 

Out of the wave some fin or form 
Tells of a peopled sea; 
And in the air the gathered gulls 
Follow us greedily. 



61 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



A WOODLAND SPRING 

All fringed with fern and arched bj birches o'er. 
The mossy-margined spring outspreads its store; 
And gazes up like some cyclopean eye 
Beneath long lashes to a leafy sky. 

This waiting water that no trouble knows 
And here in quietude like crystal grows, 
Dispels our restlessness and anxious fear 
And speaks tranquillity to turmoil's ear. 



FOAM FLOWEES 



UNDER THE OLIVES 

Under the olives' pallid leaves, 
Ah, how soft is the shadows' play^ 
What the gloom when the glare aggrieves 
What escape from the blazing day ! 



Under the olives — Lord, I see 
How in a land of garish light 
It must have been like balm to Thee 
Hither to come and quench the sight. 



Beneath the olives — what a boon, 
When no cloud in the sky may foil 
The fierce shafts of the cruel noon, 
Here to turn from the mid-day toil ! 



Under the olives — Lord, I see 
How in a land of torrid heat 
It would a respite seem to Thee 
Hither to come for brief retreat. 
53 



FOAM FLOWEES 

Within the olives' quiet close, 
Ah, what silence of restful sound; 
What a welcome of glad repose 
May by travel-worn feet be found ! 



I 



Yea, I think in such peaceful spot 
Thou must have been a frequent guest 
What time the way was long and hot n 
And Thy disciples bade Thee rest. 



Under the olives — Lord, I see 
How in a world of hateful strife 
It must have seemed a truce to Thee 
Here to elude the blare of life. 



Under the olives — who can forget 
That sad hour of agony 
Upon the Mount of Olivet, 
Who can forget Gethsemane? 



54 



FOAM FLOWERS 

Ah, what solace the foliage breathes, 
What sweet plaint in the breeze is heard, 
Like the beauty that death bequeaths, 
Like some tragedy gently stirred. 

As mankind at a sage's feet, 
Life's antipodes here unite 
In a mystical watersmeet — 
Time, eternity : day and night. 

Under the olives' ancient spell 
Years divisional fall away; 
Past and present together dwell, 
Far antiquity seems to-day. 

Under the olives' classic shade 
Linger still, as within a shrine. 
Deathless thoughts that can never fade 
Kome and Athens, and Palestine. 



55 



FOAM FLOWERS 



FROLIC OF THE WAVES 

Upblown by the breeze o'er summer seas, 
The dolphins are riding to-day! 
I see the curve of their gleaming backs 
And the crest of their fins of spray! 

In feigned pursuit of a quest they course, 
These unleashed hounds of the sea ; 
And roll upon roll toward a fancied goal 
Go on in unwearied glee. 

How fain would I, o'er my dull task bent, 
Be one of that merry crew. 
And follow the salt of the seaward scent 
Across those meadows of blue ! 



'56 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SUMMEE SAILS 

The yachting clouds go gliding hj 
Upon the Bay of Upper Blue, 
And hold regattas in the sky 
Around some stake beyond our view. 



57 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SIROCCO 

The wind is hot off Africa, 

Sirocco pounds the shore; 

The mountains stare through the crystal air 

And distance stands at our door. 



58 



FOAM FLOWERS 



SOUTH SEA 

Outside, the surf on coral reef 
Intones the sea's eternal roar, 
And mixes with the rustling leaf 
Of palms upon the blessed shore. 



59 



FOAM FLOWERS 



ST. ANN'S BAY 

Jamaica 

Once anchored in this peaceful bay 
Columbus' weary sail; 
But now, a' down the moon-lit way, 
Thunders the Eoyal Mail. 



60 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE GOOD, THE BEATIFUL AND 
THE TRUE 

We have only to live Avith a simple zest, 
To keep self true to the heart's high quest, 
And to touch all men on the side that's best — 
To know the God that is good. 

We have only to notice the grass nearby 
Or the birds that sing or the winds that sigh 
Or the matchless blue of the arching sky — 
To know the God that is fair. 

We have only to think of the hero's death, 
Of the mother's love, of the martyr's faith, 
Of the patient pluck that conquereth — 
To know the God that is true. 



61 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



THEKEYOFJOYMAJOR 



There comes no night but a morning 
Breaks, and a day is at hand ; 
There dusks no soul but a dawning 
Wakes it to new command. 

Though sorrow be great, to greet it 
Solaces are disclosed — 
Whatever our fate, to suit it 
Happiness is transposed. 



63 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



PRIVILEGED CLASSES 

The tramp-ship, balked by angry seas, 
Appeared and passed and disappeared; 
The while the liner at its ease 
Kept steadily the course it steered. 



63 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE NIGHT EXPRESS 

When life was at its lowest ebb, and light 

And sound both slept their hour of emptiness; 

And all along the winding hills of night 

Sweet slumber curled — the spectral night express 

With deep sonorous signal of approach 

Broke on the far horizon of the ear, 

And brewing its quick thunder did encroach 

Upon the valley's quiet far and near 

With ever growing, rest-destroying roar 

That, onward echoing the country wide, 

Rolled its subsiding waves from shore to shore 

And muttering still among the mountains died. 

Ruthless it speeds in meteoric flight 

Along the metalled miles of ceaseless way. 

Rifting the darkness with its blaze of light 

And city-due before the break of day. 



64 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



FAEEWELLS AKE FEW 

Farewells are few; we simply bid good-day 
To friends on parting — simply turn away 
From scenes to which we nevermore return, 
'Nor dream that we are taking leave for aye. 

So many times we parted thus before 
And met again; so often closed the door 
But to re-enter — how could we discern 
That finally it was forevermore? 



65 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE SEASONS' TOLL 

When summer says September, 
All sombre is tbe soul : 
Eacb transit of the season 
Exacts a mood for toll. 

We too were song and sunshine 
When June was in the heart ; 
Alas! the year becoming drear 
Keeps us its counterpart. 



66 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



TWILIGHT OF THE YEAE 

Sly Autumn swoops around the woodland coign 
And swirls the surface of the dusty way, 
Or mouths the organ of the wailing pine 
That mourns in loneliness the year's decay. 

Forth goes the hunter with his eager hound, 
And gun-in-hand, devising sport or gain, 
Patrols the ploughed field's uneven ground 
Or impiously invades the covert's fane. 

With frosty brand Fall sets the world ablaze 
And Harvest heaps its colours on the stall : 
In carnival the year concludes its days — 
A flash of glory ere the end of all. 

Far down the west behind a curtained sky 
The pallid sun succumbs to early night ; 
Externally all nature seems to die — 
Lo, how the home then opens warm and bright ! 



67 



FOAM FLOWERS 



LOST YOUTH 

Late splendour of Autumnal flowers, 
Thy brave pretense cannot avail 
To flush, again the sunlight pale 
And summon back the blood-red hours. 



68 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



EVENING 



Dusk fills the room: the vanguard dark invades 
Unfinished tasks — and mid-day's prose is o'er ; 
And now the poet, night, knocks at the door 
For in the west the flower of daylight fades. 

See ! down the street some little lamp of man 
With sudden gleam outstrips the gTadual stars; 
And through the gathering darkness there appears 
A thousand-fold response unto the one. 



69 



FOAM FLOWERS 



MYSTICISM 



The soul is like the sail that I descry 
Far seaward shimmering — adrift in dream - 
Where hlne of ocean blends with blue of sky, 
Two heavens interwoven without seam. 



70 



PEAK AND PLAIN 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



AMBITION 

"No stroke of work have I this many a day 
Been fit to do; and now the time draws nigh 
When once again the light of day must die, 
And still no step am I along the way. 
Ah God, undo this clutch of somnolence — 
Bid flow again within my veins thy power! 
Dispel this calm that sickens every hour 
And make thy gales to beat against my sense! 
So shall I spring with joy to grasp the helm, 
Shall seize the sheet and sit the windward rail 
And feel the flick of motion on my face; 
N^or fear the cresting waves that overwhelm. 
But crowd the very sky with spreading sail 
And venture all for victory in the race. 



73 



FOAM FLOWEKS 

II 

CONTENTMENT 

Tranquillity and quiet guard the way 
That leads into the garden of my peace; 
Beyond their gateway troubling voices cease 
And in my mansion chosen memories stay. 
Afar I hear, as 'twere hull-down at sea, 
The clashings of the world's ignoble strife, 
The struggle and the rivalry of life. 
And joy the more at my nonentity. 
Here will I dwell amid contented days 
Nor envy men the fruit of their unrest — 
Vain blessings, seeking which men go unblest, 
Themselves the forfeit to ambition's craze. 
Mine be it rather with unanxious mind 
Within life's commonplace its joy to find. 



74 



FOAM FLOWERS 



IDEALISM 



The fancy may dwell in a region of roses 
Whatever the waste that the feet must explore, 
As oft-times mirage in the desert discloses 
Cool waters that sparkle the burning sands o'er. 



75 



FOAM FLOWERS 



'TIS ONLY IN SPRING THAT THE 
AMARANTHS GROW 

The valleys in verdure, the mountains in snow ; 
Blue sky in the heavens, white blossoms below; 
The showers and flowers and odours and — oh, 
'Tis only in spring that the amaranths grow! 

The summer may deepen in colour and line; 
The autumn may ripen and redden the wine; 
Pale winter may purify life and refine — 
But ah, 'twas the spring that made living divine ! 



76 



FOAM FLOWERS 



REMINISCENCE 

In the wild gusts of the winds of November 
Dreams of sweet summer-time come to console ; 
And 'mid the snows it is joy to remember 
Days of delight that were June to the soul. 



yy 



FOAM FLOWERS 



ARS ET LABOR 

A silly little butterfly 
Was flitting round a flower 
And naught cared he how fleetingly 
Might pass the ebbing hour. 
These butterflies can have no sense, — 
They never seem to work 
And foolishly prefer their play, 
Quite shameless how they shirk. 
Just think of stopping all day long 
To look at pretty things ! 
And then, the foolishness of flight, 
The senselessness of wings ! 
Come down and grub along the ground 
And fight with all you meet. 
And maybe if you fight enough 
You'll get enough to eat — 
What, have you something to reply? 
We thought you couldn't talk; 
Wo thought that was reserved for those 
Who keep to earth and walk: 
78 



FOAM FLOWERS 

" How now, you fools of footed things, 
" Would not the earth seem bare 
" Without such things as butterflies 
" And other things of air ? 
" Isn't a little beauty worth 
" As much as all you do ? 
"And are you not just envious 
^- Because you can't fly too | " 



79 



FOAM FLOWEKS 



MATERIALISM 



All dry and waste our gardens lie o'ergrown. 
Where streams of cool refreshment flowed of yore 
The forests of the soul have "been cut down, 
The fountains of the muses spring no more. 
]N"o more in myrtled Greece survive the groves — 
Apollo wanders elsewhere with his lute; 
Dodona's shrine and Delphi now are mute ; 
Amid the trees what nymph or dryad roves? 



80 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE ONE THING MORE 

However abundantly blessings befall, 
There is always some want to deplore — 
We're as wretched as if we had nothing at all 
For lack of some one thing more. 

*^ But 'tis only this one little thing," we explain, 
" Give us that and we'll ask nothing more." 
Yet how quickly, if granted, we're stricken again 
By some want that we knew not before. 

Be we Croesus or pauper, a prince or a slave, 
We are equally wealthy or poor : 
Forever is lacking the thing that we crave — 
The mythical one thing more. 

Ah, did we but know what good fortune denies 
This something we covet so sore; 
That the lack of this one thing withholds from our eyes 
The lack of a thousand more! 



81 



FOAM FLOWEES 



OBSCUEITY 

Blinded bj sun, all blank my sight — 
I stood and groped my way: 
Yet went my steps in blackest night 
!Ne'er from the road astray. 



83 



EOAM FLOWERS 



THE MUSE 

What's wrought at leisure 
Is fraught with pleasure : 
He only preaches 
Whom nature teaches. 



83 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE PRECIOUS HOURS 

When the world lias been disbanded 
And its pieces put away, 
And the last retreating hansom 
Marks the ending of the day, 
Then beneath my lamp's red roof-tree, 
On my desk's inviting floor. 
Throng the dreams to midnight revel 
Through my fancy's open door. 



84 



FOAM FLOWERS 



HALF-TRUTH 



As when a watch-dog bays a passer-by 

And all along the road successively 

Each other dog takes up, he knows not why, 

The sound's contagion and barks furiously; 

Or horses one by one will plunge and rear, 

When hitched on market-days before a store 

And down the row a sudden crest of fear 

Runs like a sideling wave along the shore — 

So o'er the land there spreads some shallow craze, 

Some new-preached doctrine or some specious phrase 

That passing speedily from mouth to mouth 

Outruns the slower currency of truth. 

Till scarcely now on any hand is heard 

The voice of reason or the sober word. 



85 



FOAM FLOWERS 



TO A ROMAN STATUE LABELLED 
^'UNKNOWN^' 

That one word, " Unknown/' recordeth 
All the world can tell of thee, 
Noble Roman, clad in toga, 
Posed in classic dignity. 

Famous once among thy fellows. 
Honoured thus in ageless stone, 
Destined for august remembrance — 
Read thine epitaph, " Unknown." 

On that pedestal of honour 

Raised by Rome, — ah, cruelly 

Hangs that word, " Unknown," replacing 

Chiselled lines of eulogy. 

Here as in a morgue of sculpture 
Wait thy lineaments a name. 
And the marble that was glory 
Now doth disaffirm thy fame. 



86 



FOAM FLOWEES 



MARE ANTIQUUM 

The sea is the sea of Phoenician days, 
The moon is the moon of the Greeks; 
And only the nowaday ship betrays 
The new-peopled port she seeks. 



87 



FOAM FLOWERS 



ON LEAVING THE RIVIEEA 

Farewell, ye hills of Estarel; 
Farewell, ye Alps of snow; 
And ah, thou fairest sea, farewell — 
Par, far from you I go. 

Forever here, e'en as to-day. 
Immovable ye dwell; 
Into eternity your stay — 
'Tis I who say farewell. 



88 



FOAM FLOWERS 



THE BARREN I N T E L L E C T 

When the eyes are sore with seeing 
And the brain is sick with thoiig-ht 
And the vanity of being 
By each circumstance is taught, 

Then alone the heart brings healing, 
Then alone is action sure — 
Thought must abdicate to feeling, 
Doubt must find in life its cure. 



89 



FOAM FLOWERS 



FULFILMENT 

Love, and the world is wooing; 
Give, and the gifts pour in; 
Do, and the act of doing- 
Dowers with deeds. Begin! 



90 



19 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



DEC l» *^^w 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



lilil 



018 378 260 5 



